Gaudineer Knob

PhD candidate Justin Mathias is taking a pencil-size core sample from a red spruce at the top of Gaudineer Knob in West Virginia. He and biology professor Richard Thomas found direct evidence in the red spruce of Monongahela National Forest of forest resurgence in the wake of the Clean Air Act of 1970. Their study published in Global Change Biology is one of the first to document both the effects of the landmark legislation on forests and the effects of elevated carbon dioxide in a natural ecosystem.

RAYMOND THOMPSON JR. PHOTO

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Gaudineer Knob

A biology professor and student found direct evidence of forest resurgence in the wake of the Clean Air Act of 1970.